Walter, Chip (William J. Walter)

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Walter, Chip (William J. Walter)

PERSONAL:

Children: two daughters.

ADDRESSES:

CAREER:

Filmmaker, science journalist, and author, 1992—. Former CNN bureau chief and feature film screenwriter; served as national programming executive, PBS station WQED-TV, 1991-93; CEO of Digital Alchemy Inc., and vice-president and executive producer, ENGAGE Games Online. Consultant for National Geographic Society, Ketchum Inc., Education Management Corp., Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Blattner Brunner Advertising, and many others. Adjunct writing professor, Carnegie Mellon University.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(Under name William J. Walter) Space Age, Random House (New York, NY), 1992.

(With William Shatner) Star Trek: I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Thumbs, Toes, and Tears: And Other Traits That Make Us Human, Walker (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including the Boston Globe, Economist, Technology Review, Mind Magazine, Scientific American, Discover, and Pittsburgh Magazine.

SIDELIGHTS:

In Star Trek: I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact, science writer Chip Walter and coauthor William Shatner examine the ways in which what science has shown to be true about the universe conflicts with (and sometimes supports) the assumptions made in the "Star Trek" television series. While composing the book, wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor, "Shatner and Walter crisscrossed the U.S., visiting cutting-edge laboratories and noshing with scientists and inventors on the cusp of discoveries that promise to change life on earth." While modern physics disallows some cherished ideas, such as the transporter and warp drives, others, like the communicators, have already arrived. "The title," declared Rod MacDonald on the Web site SF Crowsnest, "was actually a quote from Stephen Hawking who said, ‘I'm Working on That’ when shown a warp engine at a ‘Star Trek’ exhibition in America. Hawking will never invent such a device and future physicists won't either but Bill shows us, using his old job as a basis for comparison, that the future may hold many more surprises than we expect." "For this alone," MacDonald concluded, "the book is worth reading." "Trekkies and gadget junkies," stated Booklist contributor Roland Green, "will be thrilled to read how close the future really is."

Walter based Thumbs, Toes and Tears: And Other Traits That Make Us Human on research he did while preparing a script for a PBS documentary. The volume, declared a Kirkus Reviews contributor, "celebrates Vive la difference—not so much between the sexes as between us and other primates." "According to Walter," wrote Regis Behe in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "almost everything mankind has accomplished can be traced back to the evolution of the big toe. Because the toe enabled man to walk upright, it freed his hands—which previously had been used as feet-like appendages—to carry and make things. Sexuality, eye-to-eye contact and facial expressions evolved because humans were upright, as did elongated necks, which made speech possible." These, noted a Publishers Weekly contributor, are among a limited number of physical and behavioral traits that make human beings unique and "distinguish us from the rest of the animal kingdom [in ways that] can be explained in evolutionary terms."

Critics praised the clarity of Walter's prose, celebrating the way that Thumbs, Toes and Tears explains difficult and sensitive subjects. The author "explains with insights that are easy for the layman to understand, as well as scientifically based," stated Decatur Daily contributor John Davis. "He can do so because he knows how to communicate to a general audience, having a career that spans not only journalism and documentary filmmaking, but also academia." Thumbs, Toes and Tears, concluded Booklist contributor Gilbert Taylor, is "a fluid introduction to the development of the human species."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Astronomy, October, 1993, review of Space Age, p. 88.

Booklist, August 1, 2002, Roland Green, review of Star Trek: I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact, p. 1909; November 15, 2006, Gilbert Taylor, review of Thumbs, Toes and Tears: And Other Traits That Make Us Human, p. 12.

Decatur Daily (Decatur, AL), December 31, 2006, John Davis, "‘Thumbs’ Takes a Look at What Makes Us Human."

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2006, review of Thumbs, Toes and Tears, p. 895.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 26, 2006, Regis Behe, "CMU Professor Details Evolution of Human Traits."

Publishers Weekly, May 27, 2002, review of Star Trek: I'm Working on That, p. 45; September 4, 2006, review of Thumbs, Toes and Tears, p. 50.

Sky & Telescope, July, 1993, Thornton Page, review of Space Age, p. 57.